IGNOMINIOUS END

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20124, 19 December 1939, Page 5

IGNOMINIOUS END

HUMILIATING WAY NEW GERMAN CHOICE OLD STANDARD WAIVED COMMENT IN LONDON ECHO IN NEW YORK | (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) j (Reed. Dec. 19, 9 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 18. A statement by a high naval authority published in The Times says that the scuttling of the Graf von Spec, which would never have happened in the old German Navy, is more humiliating than if the Germans had submitted to internment. "To have steamed out and fought would have b.een magnificent,” saia the authority. "To have been interned would have been understandable, but they have chosen an ignominious end." The New York Herald-Tribune in an editorial deals with the ignominious end of the Graf von Spee, contrasting her unheroic scuttling with the original Admiral Spee. The naval correspondent of the New York Times says that the scuttling is a blow to t'he prestige and morale of the German Navy and perhaps to the nation. The New York Times, in an editorial, praises the British seamanship and Uruguay’s firmness for respect foi international law.